Wednesday, November 18, 2009

There's nothing you can’t do, now you're in New York.These streets will make you feel brand new, the lights will inspire you,Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York.– Lyrics from Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z, Rapper and Trophy Husband

There are certain recipes that change the way you think about food – for me, cheese blintzes is one of them. I was raised on the traditional American suburban breakfast repertoire of pop-tarts, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., so when I was told these odd looking cheese-filled bundles sitting on the dark pool of fruit sauce were "breakfast," it took a few moments to register such a thing was possible.In addition to helping me realize there was a whole new world of breakfast options out there, cheese blintzes also fed my fascination with New York City. My father grew up in New York, but the small town in which he married my mother and started his family was about as far removed from the City as you could get.

His colorful stories (many of which were true) about growing up in New York City often included mentions of strange and exotic foods from his childhood. I loved these stories, and fell in love with New York through them.

On the occasions when I would get to taste things like knishes, lox, pastrami, and blintzes, it was more than just something to eat; it was a visceral connection to another place.

Ukrainian immigrants (John senior was half Ukrainian) brought these wonderful cheese-filled crepes to New York City, and the Big Apple is now considered the blintz capital of the world (Photo (c) Flickr user kennymatic).

As you watch this video recipe, it may seem a little complicated, but while it does have several steps, they're fairly simple and so worth the effort. This video was shot for About.com during my trip to NYC a couple months ago, so when you click on the video below, you'll be taken to the recipe page there.

Cheese blintzes are a perfect special occasion breakfast or brunch dish, and can be made up ahead of time and finished at the last minute. I hope you give them a try. Thanks Dad. Enjoy!

Coupla questions:* What side of the crepe did you fill, first cooked side or second or does it matter?* Is this your kitchen? (did you remodel?)* Did you lose some weight? (don't answer if you feel this is too personal)

By the way, another even more fancy fruit sauce can be made simply by mixing one pack of frozen blueberries with one pack of frozen raspberries and about five tablespoons of cane sugar - no water - and then heat very gently and stir until everything thaws and liquifies. Do not simmer. Then strain through a coarse mesh. The sauce has to be eaten the same day because it does not store well, but finishing it all with crepes (or pancakes) is never a problem.

Chef John, that was such a surprise to see my favorite breakfast recipe on my favorite food blog!

The recipe is exactly my mother taught me, with the exception of the fruit sauce - in the part of Ukraine I'm from we use either whipped cream or sour cream as a sauce, but I think your version is great too

I didn't nab anything. There are many different Creative Commons (CC) designations on Flikr. Some, like this photo allows display as long as you attribute to the user. I assume that's why they post and share them, so people can see them. This is NOT copyright infringement. Check your facts before you accuse someone of something "not proper."

Can't agree with you Jeff .Your still need a smack. A photo of the beach in Malibu would add nothing to this story, but the skyline of NY went perfectly with Chef John's story about his Dad growing up in NYC.

These were amazing. My sister and I made two different versions (double batch of crepes). In the first version I switched the lemon zest for a little bit of maple extract (I tried using maple syrup but you could hardly taste the maple and it made the mix terribly runny). I added a little of the cream mix my sister made and a tablespoon or 2 of my maple mix. Once they were baked I topped them with maple syrup and pecans.

The second version was with rasp. pie filling and cream filling(we had run out of ricotta at this point so my sister subbed cottage cheese that she drained and mixed with a stick blender to make it less chunky). She left out the lemon and added a little vanilla extract. Then, she put pie filling inside with the cream mix and topped the blintzes with more rasp. once they were cooked.

Everyone loved both versions and all but two blintzes were devoured. Thanks for the recipe Chef John, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

So, it's a good filling. And, uh, I liked it. So I made a variation with no sugar/lemon, and with salt & garlic powder instead, and used it to stuff a lasagna. Super creamy and delicious. Thank you for the idea--I never thought of cutting the ricotta with cream cheese before, but this was such an improvement in the texture. Everybody loved it. Thanks Chef John!